The report said that Jio may roll out its services in the first half of 2016-17. It added that CRISIL has assigned "AAA" rating for non-convertible debentures (NCDs).ETTelecom | March 17, 2016, 09:33 IST

NEW DELHI: Reliance Jio, the country's only 4G opeartor, is planning to raise upto Rs 5,000 crore through debentures to fund business operations, according to a Business Standard report.

The report said that Jio may roll out its services in the first half of 2016-17. It added that CRISIL has assigned "AAA" rating for non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

"RJIL will remain strategically important to RIL, which will continue to provide strong management and financial support to the subsidiary," the report said.

In January this year, Jio n a stock exchange filing had said that will raise Rs.15,000 crore through a rights issue. The company did not disclose why it was raising such a large sum.

The telco has the largest holding of pan-India liberalised spectrum, and the unified license, which makes it the only player that can offer voice telephony along with 4G data services across all 22 circles in the country. Reliance Industries Limited invested Rs 30,000 crore in Jio in the form of equity as on December 31, 2015.

The rating agency is of the view that large liberalised spectrum holding of 751 MHz and technological advancements in LTE technology will enable Jio to reap benefits in the market. However, CRISIL said that these rating strengths are partially offset by RJIL's exposure to implementation and technology risks pertaining to the roll-out of the telecommunications (telecom) services. Reliance Jio is likely to spend more than Rs 1000 crores on commercial launch, according to a report by Exchange4media.

The report said that Jio's mobile phone services are expected to be formally launched sometime next month.

Jio has been planning to position itself as a digital content company to make it distinct from other mobile phone operators in an intensely competitive market, with content streaming packages a key element of this strategy. Jio is currently rolling out a pan-India digital services business with digital content, applications and services. It already holds 751.10 MHz of liberalised spectrum across the 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2300MHz bands.

The launch of Reliance Jio Infocomm will intensify competition which will squeeze the market share, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) margins and credit metrics of incumbents, credit ratings agency India Ratings and Research recently said.